Author: staff
Online platforms TikTok, Meta, Google and X have been invited to take part in an election stress test on Thursday organised by the Romanian communications regulator Ancom, ahead of the first round of the new presidential election on 4 May, after the November election was annulled. The exercise aims to test the capacity of those involved in the electoral process and to address potential online challenges that may arise during the election period, Ancom told Euronews. Representatives of the European Commission, national authorities and civil society organisations were also invited. The Commission confirmed to Euronews that it will take part in the stress…
So far, Brussels has approved limited sanctions against extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. But it has resisted calls for more restrictive measures or suspending trade ties with Israel following the launch of its war on Gaza in 2023 after Hamas militants attacked Israel and took hostages to the coastal enclave. Adra, whose documentary tells the story of Israeli demolitions of his native rural community of Masafer Yatta in the West Bank, argues the EU should “at the minimum recognize now the state of Palestine” but also sanction “all settlers [who] are violating international law.”…
Researchers in Denmark have set a new world record in efficiency for converting sunlight into electricity by using new windows that allow light to pass through while simultaneously generating power. The transparent solar cell technology could provide a breakthrough for renewable energy by transforming skyscrapers and offices into power plants, using their windows to become solar panels. The innovation from the CitySolar project could also help Europe meet its ambitions to make all new buildings nearly zero energy and fully decarbonise the European building sector by 2050.The researchers from the University of Southern Denmark combined organic solar cells with the material perovskite,…
The retaliation does not yet respond to Trump’s imposition of 20 percent “reciprocal” tariffs on all EU exports, which came into force on Wednesday, and his latest 25 percent tariff on cars. Trump has also said tariffs on pharmaceuticals are coming soon. The European Commission is considering putting forward its countermeasures on those tariffs as early as next week. “It will for sure be soon. I expect it could be as early as next week,” trade spokesperson Olof Gill said Tuesday. Trump demands that the EU reduce its trade surplus with the U.S., for instance by buying unrealistic amounts of…
Germany’s steel giant ThyssenKrupp wants to cut 11,000 jobs. Europe’s metal industry is in crisis. US tariffs, exorbitant energy prices, global overcapacity, competition from cheap steel from China… The European Commission is trying to save what can be saved – with a ‘Steel Action Plan’. The European Commission calls its strategy for industrial competitiveness and decarbonisation the ‘Clean Industrial Deal’. Far too much steel is produced worldwide. And now the new US government is also threatening tariffs: 25 percent on all steel and aluminium imports. As a result, there is a risk of international trade flows being diverted away from the…
How can we stop artificial intelligence (AI) from stealing our content? US-based web services provider Cloudflare says it has come up with a solution to web scraping – by setting up an “AI labyrinth” to trap bots.More specifically, this maze is aimed at detecting “AI crawlers,” bots that systematically mine data from web pages’ content and trap them there. The company said in a blog post published last week that it has seen “an explosion of new crawlers used by AI companies to scrape data for model training”.Generative artificial intelligence (genAI) requires enormous databases for training its models. Several tech companies…
One beach on the Italian island of Sardinia will only be accessible to visitors by booking through an app this summer.Crescent-shaped Tuerredda beach has already been capping visitor numbers at 1,100 per day since 2020. The new digital measure, expected to be in place by July, aims to ease the strain on local resources and infrastructure. Many of Sardinia’s spectacular beaches are protected from overtourism with similar restrictions, with transgressors facing fines of up to €3,500.The island’s coastline is renowned for its pristine stretches of sand and is frequently voted as one of the top places in Italy for a…
Three years after flying into the Cannes Film Festival with Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise is returning to the Croisette this year with Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning – his rumoured swansong as superspy Ethan Hunt. The film will screen out of competition at the 78th edition of Cannes on 14 May and the Cannes accredited members of the Euronews Culture team are getting giddy already. Until you get our verdict and hopefully making your own mind up when the film hits theatres on 23 May, you can check out the trailer, which looks mighty promising and seems like Final Reckoning could redeem the…
The Chinese finance ministry announced on Wednesday it will impose another 50 percent tariff on all goods coming from the United States, after Washington’s sweeping 104 percent tariff on Chinese goods took effect. “The U.S.’s practice of escalating tariffs on China is a mistake on top of a mistake, which seriously infringes on China’s legitimate rights and interests,” the ministry said in a statement, adding the move was “adding insult to injury.” The response comes as trade tensions have soared between Beijing and Washington, after Trump said he would tack another 50 percent in his “reciprocal” tariff package. In practice,…
The US has said it is “alarmed” by the arrest of an American academic in Thailand who has been charged with insulting the country’s monarchy. Paul Chambers, a lecturer at Naresuan University who specialises in the Thai military, could face years in prison if convicted under the country’s strict lèse-majesté laws.Under article 112 of the Southeast Asian nation’s penal code, a single charge of insulting the king, the queen, the heir apparent or the regent carries a maximum 15-year jail sentence. Chambers has also been charged under the Computer Crimes Act, which is punishable by up to five years in…